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Cleveland Cavaliers: Healthy George Hill is difference maker in postseason play

The Cleveland Cavaliers understand that a healthy George Hill is a difference maker in postseason play.

CLEVELAND -- At times during the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers looked out of sync on the offensive end of the floor, but after sweeping through the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors, in the second round, they seemed like a much different team.

To the Cavaliers, the return of veteran point guard George Hill made big difference for a team without much time to prepare between closing out the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 and starting off the Eastern Conference Semifinals with the Raptors in Toronto.

“It’s good to have him,” Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love said.

Small forward LeBron James added, “He’s another added ball-handler, another guy with a high basketball IQ and that’s been in big games, and it helps to have that out on the floor. To be able to create, not only for himself early on in the game, but just being able to create for others as well, it’s been great for us having him back after he had the injury.”

In the close-out game, Hill converted five of his eight attempts at the hoop and two for two at the free-throw line on the way to 12 points to go along with three rebounds, five assists and just one turnover in 29 minutes of action.

Hill got going early when he twice threw down dunks after going coast to coast.

George Hill coast to coast x 2! 💥#WhateverItTakes

📺: @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/DC3o1Es92Q

— NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2018

And it was not only offensive aggression out of Hill in the 128-93 Game 4 victory over the Raptors.

Hill and the Cavaliers held Toronto’s dynamic backcourt, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, to just 18 points combined and seven-of-18 shooting from the floor in the elimination game.

Credit: Tom Szczerbowski
Cleveland Cavaliers point guard George Hill drives to the basket against Toronto Raptors guard OG Anunoby in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

READ: LeBron James' teammates grateful to be with, and not against, Cleveland Cavaliers

But more than the points and defense, Hill helped Love find a rhythm against the Raptors.

Love averaged 20.5 points, pulled down 11.5 rebounds and shot 47.5 percent from the field, as well as 35.3 percent from three-point range against Toronto despite scoring just seven points in Game 1.

“Just having him back healthy has been very positive for me,” Love said. “There’s a lot of times where LeBron and I are on the pick and roll, and they are able to switch and we’re able to get the ball inside, but a lot of times, with the one-five pick and roll in this series, (Dwane) Casey had them switching, whether they double-teamed or they stayed put, I was able to go to work, and it was the same thing with Kyle (Korver), too.”

Hill added, “I told him, even back in Game 7 against the Pacers, I’m going to focus on trying to get him some easy buckets. We haven’t run elbow-strong, elbow-big and things like that for a while, so I said, ‘Let’s get you some easy, backdoor buckets, and ride a screen for you, and you’ll get some easy touches and let that open your game up.’ We’ve just been focusing on that all series long.”

Credit: David Richard
Cleveland Cavaliers point guard George Hill rises up for a dunk over Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas in Game 4 of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

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With the Cavaliers set to make their fourth consecutive appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals, where they will take on either the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers after a week’s worth of rest and practice, Hill plans on continuing to be aggressive.

“It’s playoff basketball,” Hill said.

“You don’t have time to have self-pity and think too much. You’ve just got to play, play to win. That’s the only thing that we’ve got to focus on: just win the game. Don’t worry about matchups. Don’t worry about who’s guarding who. Just worry about making plays for your teammates and have fun doing it.”

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